Content House goes to Rio 2016

Roy Gachuhi by the banks of the Nile in Egypt, at the 5th Luxor African Film Festival in March 2016

Content House’s senior writer and producer, Roy Gachuhi, will be covering this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, for us. Roy will be a writer-in-residence with Agência Pública, a non-profit investigative journalism agency which operates the Casa Publica centre in the Botafogo neighbourhood of Rio.

In April this year, Casa Publica sent out a world-wide invitation to foreign journalists to compete for four vacancies in its residency programme. Casa received 177 applications from 42 countries in all five continents. Some of the countries which submitted the highest number of applicants were Argentina with 30, Colombia with 20, Spain with 19 and Mexico with 13.

In the end, five journalists were selected – one each from France, Italy, Chile, Ecuador and Roy Gachuhi from Kenya, the only African.

Roy is the producer of the widely epic documentary, The Last Fight, which he took to Egypt for screenings in March this year during the 5th Luxor African Film Festival. The documentary, a sometimes gut-wrenching depiction of the life of boxing hopefuls in the tough slums of Nairobi and Nakuru, was received with wide acclamation. Apart from his work at The Content House, Roy is also a sports columnist and Special Projects writer with the Nation Media Group.

Some of Roy’s most remembered stories in his prolific output include the triumph and tragedy of Robert Wangila, to date Africa’s only Olympic gold medalist and the dying in abject poverty of some of Kenya’s most acclaimed football stars.

Casa Publica, focusses on stories to do with human rights violations and the rights of Brazil’s marginalized communities. The centre has also over the years become a home for discussions and support of investigative and independent journalism. Casa Publica’s stated goal is to strengthen the production of quality content and depth, guided by the public interest and in the defense of democracy.